The City of St. Louis has thus far denied around 350 applications for tornado home repair, debris removal and demolition assistance, including for a Hyde Park home that had been condemned a decade before the tornado hit; a home in Gravois Park in South City, miles from the tornado’s path; and more than a dozen properties purchased from the city’s land bank after the tornado. Other denials include one for a property that doesn’t exist as well as about 20 not within city limits.
That’s according to data from the city about its denials of applications for money for home repair, demolition and debris removal—programs that received around 3,000 applications. Even as residents wait for the dollars, a few hundred applicants have gotten their denials. While city officials aren’t pinning the delay on the need to block bogus applications, they acknowledge those bogus applications have come at a level they didn’t anticipate.
“People know that this is the program intended to help people responding to a tornado. And so the fact that we even have to sort through and find as many cases is disheartening,” says Julian Nicks, the city’s chief recovery officer…